Mill Details

Baumgardner's Mill / Millvale Mill

Lancaster Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Known Dates: 1836
Township: Pequea Twp.
Watersource: Pequea Creek.
Location / Directions

Baumgardner's Mill / Millvale Mill

From Lancaster City, go 10 miles south on Pa 324, turn left on Frogtown Road/T-416 at Marticville, go 0.75 miles, turn left on Byerland Church Road and go 1 mile, thru the Baumgardner's Mill Covered Bridge. The mill is visible out the far side of the bridge.

Verse for Thought
"For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land'."
({Deuteronomy 15:11 NKJV})
Baumgardner's Mill / Millvale Mill

The first mill on the site was a log 3 story grist & saw mill 20'X 40' in size built by Jacob Smith in 1774. The log mill was replaced by a new stone mill; of 38'X 40' in size, 3 stories tall, in 1806, with Smith still operating. The mill was sold to Abraham Mylin in 1836.

Baumgardner's Mill / Millvale Mill

Mylin enlarged the 1806 mill or started over with the new 1836 stone/frame mill that stands today at 3 stories with a 40'X 60' footprint. The mill burned and was rebuilt from the fire that toasted 3,000 bushels of wheat. Mylin sold to Benjamin Harnish in 1857, then again in 1868 to John Good, and 1870 to Thomas Baungardner. Subsequent owners were Jacob Herr, Henry Hess, J.H. Baumgardner,& Edwin Diffenderfer who was killed by the internal waterwheel in 1905. Another name for the mill was the Edwin Diffenbauch Mill. Not sure if Diffenbauch and Diffenderfer were one and the same person?

Baumgardner's Mill / Millvale Mill

Henry Hess had a second try at the helm of the mill in 1913, then Enos Harnish, Sumner Brown, & Clayton Hilton. Hilton traded the mill for a farm to H. F. Eshleman. The mill was in good condition in 1987 and continues in the same vein today, used primarily for farm storage.

 
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